World's Funniest Joke

The "world's funniest joke" is a term used by Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in 2002 to summarize one of the results of his research. For his experiment, named LaughLab, he created a website where people could rate and submit jokes. Purposes of the research included discovering the joke that had the widest appeal and understanding among different cultures, demographics and countries.

The History Channel eventually hosted a special on the subject.

The winning joke, which was later found to be based on a 1951 Goon Show sketch by Spike Milligan,was submitted by Gurpal Gosal of Manchester:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gun shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"

Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet thereSellers: Oh, is he dead?Bentine: I think soSellers: Hadn't you better make sure?Bentine: Alright. Just a minuteSound of two gun shotsBentine: He's dead.

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gun shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"

My grandfather smoked his whole life. I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, "if you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately" Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake. he gave it up immediately. Three years later he died of lung cancer. It was really sad and destroyed me. My mother said to me "Don't ever smoke. Please doN't put your family through what you granddad put us through." I agreed. At 29, I have never touched a cigarette. i must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having done it, because your post gave me cancer anyway.